Package sorter



R. J. SHOLTZ PACKAGE .SORTER Filed D60. 26. 1924 Dec. 1 1925.

Patented Dec. 1, 19.25.

UNITED STATES RICHARD J'. SHOLTZ, OF KANSAS CITY,

PATENT OFli'lCl..Y

MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR F ONE-THIRD T0 EMANUEL M. BACZ AND ONE-THIRD TOCLARENCE M. HARDENBERGH, BOTH OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

PACKAGE SORTER.

Application led December 26, 1924.' Serial No. 758,313.

To all whom it may concern.' T

Be it known that I, RICHARD J. SHoLTz, acitizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City', in the county of Jackson and State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PackageSorters; and I do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to sorting apparatus and it particularlycontemplates the provision of means for segregating articles or packagesso that all those approximating a certain size or weight, or anypredetermined number of certain sizes or weights, may be diverted into asingle channel. For example, in Hour mills the Hour is put up in bagscontaining 6 pounds, 12 pounds, 24 pounds, 48 pounds, 96 pounds, 140pounds and 200 pounds. If it is desired to group the packages of anyparticular denomination, such as in loading cars or loading a dockpreparatory to shipment, considerable time and labor will be consumed inseparating the bags or packages from the heterogeneous group unless somemeans is provided or automatically eiecting the separation. I haveprovided a novel means whereby the separation maybe accomplished andwhile the invention is particularly designed for use in flour mills, itis obvious that in its generic aspect it is susceptible for uses otherthan those encountered in a Hour mill, soin so far as the genericconception of my invention is involved I wish it to be understood thatthe invention contemplates the application wherever the broad principlemay be put into use.

r5l`he broad embodiment of my invention Fig. 2 is a sectional View ofthe contacts for the compensating mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings by numerals, 1 designates a charger beltonto which the articles to-be sorted may be delivered either 'gmanuallyor mechanically. The charger belt is driven by suitable vmechanismdiagrammatically shown as a roller 2' having a pulley 'rigid'therewithto receive motion from a belt 4' deriving its motion from, a suitablesource not shown. The charger belt or movable table runs between the twoupright sides 5 and 6 of anguideway and at suitable intervals I provideone or more intersecting chutes 7, there being only one shown. It is tobe understood however that additional intersecting guideways or chutesmay be employed wherever necessary.

Secured to one of the side walls of the guideway isan article guideor'directing plate 8 urged diagonally across the path of the chargerbelt or guideway, the plate being urged into diagonal position by theexpansion spring 9 which is coiled about the rod 10, one end of which isconnected to the plate 8 and the other end of which- 80 extends throughlthe side wall 5. Therefore as the articles pass along the guide- Waythey will be deflected overtoward the wall 6 to contact with a feelerlinger 11 pivotedto the wall Gand carrying a contact 12 which, when thefeeler-finger 11 moves over to the side of the wall 6, will contact witha fixed contact 13 to close an electrical circuit consisting of theconductors 14 and 15, electrically connected to the main electrical lineconsisting of the conductors 16 and 17. In the circuit consisting of theconductors 14 and 15, and more specifically in the conductor 15, is aswitch 18 and a magnet coil 19, the magnet being 95 eective to attractthe armature 20 of the circuit closing relay 21. The circuit closingrelay has two Contact points 22 and 23, in electrical connection withthe conductors 16 and 17 through the wires Qa'and 25. lIhe relay isnormally urged into open position by the spring 26.l When the circuitconsistin of the conductors 14 and 15 and the y eeler-nger contacts, 12and 13 is closed, the Imagnet 19 will draw down the 10'5 armature 20 sothat the contacts 22 and 23 will contact with the fixed contacts 27 and28. The fixed contact 27 is connected separately to the fixed Contact 29by a wire 30 and it is adapted to close a circuit with a contact 31 onthe pivoted circuit closing relay arm 32, normally closed by a spring 33but adapted to be operated to break the contacts 29 and 31 when the coil34 is energized through a circuit to be hereinafter referred to. Vlhenthe contacts 29 and 31 are together the current will flow through. wire24, through wire 30, through contact 29, contact 31 through wire 35 toconductor to coil 19. Then the contacts 23 and- `28 are together, asthey will be together when contacts 22 and 27 are together, the currentwill How from the main line 17 through wire 25, through contacts 23 and28, through wire 36 to the magnet coil 37 back to conductor 16, throughwire 38 to cause the magnet 37 to oppose l.the spring 40 and draw thearmature 39 to the magnet coil 37, inducing a longitudinal move-- mentto the detent pin 41 in the guides 42 and 43 so that the pin will passthrough an opening l44 in the latch bar 45 pivoted to the pivoted plate46, the -pin having movement enough to pass through opening 44 of thelatch bar to perforate keeper-lug 47 so that the plate 46 will be heldrigid, for otherwise the weight of the package would swing the pivotedplate 46 against the spring 48 and compress it enough, to allow 'thearticle or package to proceed along a straight line.

When the deflecting plate-or gate 46 is held rigid by the pin or detent41 the article will be deflected toward the ofi-chute or guideway 7, asit passes into the ofi-chute or guideway 7 it will operate a switch`49to operate the normally closed circuit breaker 32 to break the contactbetween the two conductors 35 and 30. The conductor 50 includes themagnet coil 34 under one end of the pivoted lever; 32 and it isconnected to the main line conductor 17. The conductor 51 is connecteddirectly' to the main line conductor 16. As soon as the contacts 29 and31 are broken the current will cease to be supplied to the magnet coil19 so the spring 26 will pull the armature 20 oli the contacts 27 and 28so that there will be no current Howing through any of the circuits. y.

As heretofore ,explained there may` be, any number of oli-chutes 7. Eacholf-chute will divert a bag or article having a given weight so somemeans must be provided for insuring allarticles of a given weight,enterin into the olf-chute or uideway selecte to receive them. Inordgerto be sure that the proper articles or bags, as the case may be,are diverted to the proper chutes or guideways I provide a selectormechanis'm. The selector mechanism'is shown as menace comprising aselector arm 52 pivoted to a I support 53 at 54 and having a linger 55which extends inwardly over the table or belt in the path of the bags orarticles, adjacent to the feeler-linger 1l. The arm 52 is connected totwo links 56 and 57. The link 56 is connected to a pivotedcontact arm 58having a hooked end 59 electrically connected to the conductor 14. Thehooked end 59 is in a different plane than the plane of the segmentalcontact bar 60 but it is adapted to contact with a contact 61 movableover the contact 60. The contact 6l is carried by a pivotedlever 62,connected toa pivoted lever 63 by a link 64. The lever 64 is connectedto a spring actuated dash-pot 65 of usual construction by a link 66. Thearm 52 is also connected to a spring compensating device 67 by a link 69through a pivoted lever 70 'which in turn is connected to the link 57.By referring to the drawings it will be seen that the selector mechanismhas compensating 'members which, when the articles strike rent will flowinto the wire 71, wire 72,

wire 73, wire 74,-wire '7 5 or wire 76 dependent upon which of theswitches, 77, 7 7, 7e, 78, 79, 79, e0, 80, 81, el', es, or es isclosedand if the selected switch is closed then the gate 46 will be lockedonly when current passes through the circuit having a closed switch 77to 82 respectively. It will be observed that the switch bus-bar 83 isprovided for the switches 77 to 82 and the bus-bar 84 is provided forthe single throw switches 77 to 82 respectively. The bus-bar 83 isconnected to the conductor 50 through a wire 85 and the bus-bar 84 isconnected to the conductor 1 5.

The dash pot 65 is usedl in connection with the rod on the end of lever63 so that the lever 62 will swing on its pivot at a relatively low rateof speed, slower than the lever 58 which is connected to lever 52 by alink 56. The lever 52 is connected to lever 70 by a link 57. The spring67 will put under compression when the bag hits finger 55. When the baghits finger 55 the hooked end 59 will contact with 61. As soon as the bapasses 55, pressure against finger 55 will e released. The spring 66being freer to expand than the spring in .dash-pot 65, will cause '59tomove away lll() arm 52 far enough, on account of the impact generatedby their weight and the friction against the members 11 and, 55, to movethe contact 61 beyond the contact on segment 60 for wire 72, and sincethe switches 79, 80, 81 and 82 are closed and the switches 79', 80', 81,and 82 are open the current from lines 73, 74, 75 and 76 will flowthrough the bus-bar 83, line 85 energizing the magnet 34 to break thecircuit which controls the pivoted plate 46, being free to swing back,permitting the pas-` sage of'tliese bags past the chute 7. But, when aQ4-pound sack of flour strikes finger the contact 61 will move over tothe contact on segment for wire 7 2 then the current can flow throughthe circuits to'cause the magnet 19 to attract the armature 20 and allowbolt 41 to enter the keeper-lug 47 to lock the gate 46. In its lockedposition the bag will be diverted into the off-chute 7 but just as soonas it passes over the switch 49 the circuit through wires 50 and '51 andthe magnet 34 will be energized and the armature v32 will be drawn downso as to break the circuit through conductors 35, 30 and 24, therebyrestoring all of the apparatus to its normal position. I

Suppose it is desired to divert bags containing 12 pounds and 48 poundsthrough the dft-chute 7, then the switches 77', 79', 78, 80, 81 and 82will be closed. Bags -containing either 12 or 48 pounds will cause theoperation ofthe device, all other bags will pass by because, evervthough they operate finger 55, the contacts will be made for the circuit5() which breaks the circuit to the magnet 37 and current cannot flowhooked end 59 will move away from contact 61. The finger 11 isparticularly provided for the 6 pound sacks however it may be used forthe smallest sized sacks which pass over the belt.

The mechanism just described defines one unit of the system, eachoff-chute or diverting mechanism will have a complete layout such as isillustrated in the drawings and each will operate independently of theother. It is to be understood of course that circuits lfor conductors 16and 17 can be supplied from a commercial line through the switch 86.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is 1. A device ofthe class described comprising an article guideway, anoff-chutecooperating with the guideway, an article deflector fordefiecting articles from the guideway into the off-chute andelectrically `operatedhmeans actuatable in response to impact andfriction of the articles for rendering the defiector operative. f

2. A device ofthe class described comprising a guideway, an off-chuteco-operating with the guideway, a normally inoperative deflector at theintersection of the olf-chute with the guideway and electricallyoperated means operative inresponse to impact and friction for renderingthe deflector operative. f-

A device of the classy described comprising a guideway, an off-chuteintersecting the guideway, a normally inoperative deflector disposed,diagonally acrossv the guideway at the intersection of 'the chutetherewith, means for holding the deflector rigid in diagonal positionacross the guideway and electrically operated means movable in responseto impact for rendering the first named means operative.

4. A device of the-class described, a main passageway, an off-takepassageway co-operating with 4the main passageway, a yielding normallyinoperative gate for directing material from the main passageway to theoff-take passageway, a locking means for the gate including anelectrically operative element, and means against which the material maycontact in advance of the gate for energizing a circuit to cause theelectrically operated element of the gate to function. l

5. A device of the class described compris, ing a guideway, an off-takechute co-operating with the guideway, a gate for deflecting articlesfrom the guideway into the the chute, a locking devicel for the gate tol hold it in functional position, `an electrical circuit for controllingthe locking device, a plurality of independent conductors lforenergizing the circuit, the conductors having contact points, one foreach, a movable contact adapted to .independent-ly engage the contactsfor the conductors and means for varying the amplitude of the movablecontact in response to the weight of the article traveling down theguideway.

6. A device of the class described, a main guideway, an auxiliaryoff-chute guideway, a gate for defiecting articles from the mainguideway to the off-chute guideway, means for locking the gate infunctional position,`

an electric circuit for energizing the first named means, a relaycircult for rendering the first named circuit effective, a feeierfingerin the rst named circuit in the path of' articles moving down theguideway, a switch arm for the first named circuit having a. partextending across the guideway for contact with the articles afterV theyhave passed the :feeler-finger.

7. A device of the class described, a main guideway, an auxiliary ofoff-chute guideways, a gate for deflectng articles from the mainguideway to the off-chute guideway, means for locking the gate infunctional position, an electric circuit for energizing the firsty saidmeans,a relay circuit for rendering the first named circuit effective, afeeler-finger in the first named circuit in the path of articles movingdown the guideway, a switch arm for the first named circuit llaving a'part extending across the guideway for contact with the articles afterthey have passed the feeler-nger, a defiector in advance of theeeler-finger and the arm for defiecting the articles into contact withthe feeler-finger and the arm.

8. A device of the class described, a main guideway, an o-take guidewaycommunieating with the first named guideway, a normally` yieldingdefiector gate across the main guideway, means for holding the gaterigid, means for actuating the firstv named means and means in theoff-take guideway for rendering the first named means effec# operatedmeans for holding the gate rigid.

and means in the first named passageway rendered effective by impactofarticles passing along the first named passageway to render theelectrically operated means effective.

In testimony whereof l afiix my signature.

RICHARD J. SHOLTZ.

